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Fast Ferry Plan Gets Approval

Would Link the Vineyard With New Bedford Next Summer; Meanwhile,
Schamonchi Has Woes this Year

By JULIA WELLS

Steamship Authority governors danced a cha-cha this week over ferry
service between New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard, taking one step
back as they announced a delay in the start date for the passenger ferry
Schamonchi this year - and one step forward as they voted to move
ahead on a plan to develop high-speed passenger service for next year.

The vote to move ahead on the high-speed ferry plan was unanimous at
the monthly boat line meeting in Woods Hole yesterday morning. The vote
gives a green light to SSA senior managers to negotiate a contract with
New England Fast Ferry LLC for the service. A second vote by the board,
following those contract talks, is still required before the deal is
final. If it wins final approval, the high-speed passenger service is
expected to begin in the summer of 2004.

The vote by the boat line board yesterday came over the
eleventh-hour objection of the Dukes County Commission, which voted 5-1
on Wednesday night to ask the SSA to delay the service. In a letter
delivered to the SSA yesterday, the county commission cited inadequate
planning and public input as reasons to delay the vote.

But Vineyard boat line governor Kathryn A. Roessel was unfazed by
the request.

"I think we need to vote today to send management out to
negotiate the deal," Ms. Roessel said.

"This is going to be a complicated, multi-part deal. And if we
don't end up getting everything in place, I will have no qualms
about voting against this," she added.

A private ferry consortium based in Falmouth, New England Fast Ferry
was one of two companies that responded to a request for proposals put
out by the boat line earlier this year. Boston Harbor Cruises also
submitted a proposal for a summer-only high-speed ferry service. At a
boat line meeting two months ago management recommended New England Fast
Ferry for the contract, partly because the company was proposing
year-round service.

The proposal includes a plan to run two 149-passenger
propeller-driven high-speed ferries between State Pier in New Bedford
and the Vineyard all year long. Summer service to the Island would go to
Oak Bluffs. Winter service is expected to run between New Bedford and
Vineyard Haven, the only year-round SSA port on the Vineyard.

New Bedford governor David Oliveira thanked the board for their
willingness to expand New Bedford ferry service.

"I'd like to thank the board for their open-mindedness
and I look forward to working with everyone on the finer details,"
he said.

Those details include a plan by the SSA to take a cut of the parking
revenue from a city parking lot planned for the ferry service.

SSA chief executive officer officer Fred C. Raskin said the contract
will be negotiated with an eye toward developing a number of financial
safeguards for the boat line. Lost revenue on the Woods Hole run is one
of a number of concerns, the CEO said.

The boat line also made public an independent report from a naval
architect that examined the engineering specifications for the two new
ferries, which are not yet built.

Architects from Fox Associates said wake wash problems are not
likely to be an issue, but the architects said certain other design
characteristics may make the ferries prone to operating problems in bad
weather. The architects recommended that the boat line require the
company to install a ride control system and a reversible gear box for
more maneuverability and stopping ability in an emergency.

Meanwhile, Mr. Raskin repeated yesterday the news, first reported
last week, that the startup of service on the passenger ferry Schamonchi
will likely be delayed because the owner of the Billy Woods Wharf and
the city of New Bedford have been unable to come to terms over the lease
of a parking lot near the wharf.

The Schamonchi was due to begin service on May 21, in time for the
Memorial Day weekend.

The lease negotiations center on a 350-car parking lot that wharf
owner Carl Pimentel leases from the city, adjacent to where the
Schamonchi docks, outside the hurricane barrier. Mr. Pimentel had a
five-year lease with an option to renew for five more years. The first
half of the lease ran out last October, and the city said it would not
renew. Later city officials offered to renew the lease for one year, but
Mr. Pimentel wanted a longer commitment.

The SSA bought the Schamonchi two-and-a-half years ago for $1.3
million from the Thompson family, which ran the passenger ferry for 20
years. The ferry, which now runs between New Bedford and the boat line
wharf in Oak Bluffs, is set to begin its third season under boat line
ownership.

Mr. Raskin has said he does not want to get in the middle of the
feud between city officials and the Pimentels, but yesterday he praised
the city for being reasonable.

"I want to thank the city for its efforts," said Mr.
Raskin. The SSA leases the wharf separately from the Pimentels, but amid
the problems between the city and the Pimentels the state of the pier
lease is in limbo.

Mr. Raskin said the boat line is now looking at a number of
alternative dock spaces, including one at the University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth campus. Former New Bedford city solicitor George
Leontire, now a member of the boat line port council, said he hopes to
have an alternative dock arrangement ready for the boat line by early
next week.

Mr. Leontire said the city wants to retake control of the parking
lot near the Billy Woods Wharf because it represents a good source of
revenue. "We estimate it could be as high as $350,000 to
$500,000," Mr. Leontire said.

Yesterday Mike Pimentel, who is the son of Carl, blasted both the
boat line and Mr. Leontire for what he called bad faith.

"The city of New Bedford is offering me a deal that I'm
not taking - I don't want to do business with George
Leontire," Mr. Pimentel declared. He said he no longer cares about
the parking lot, but said he will still offer to lease the Billy Woods
Wharf to the SSA.

"If the Steamship Authority wants to work out a reasonable
docking fee the city can run that parking lot because I'm not
interested," Mr. Pimentel said.

He said the alternative sites under consideration by the boat line
are comparatively poor facilities with no parking, so passengers would
need to be bussed from an off-site parking lot to the dock.

"It's not going to work," Mr. Pimentel said.

At the meeting yesterday Mr. Raskin highlighted another problem: He
said any alternative dock site that is inside the hurricane barrier will
add time to the trip, making it necessary to go to a triple crew at even
more cost to the boat line.

Currently the Schamonchi loses about $800,000 a year.

In other boat line business yesterday, Mr. Raskin reported that
revenues are sharply down for the year. Total revenues year to date for
the month of April are $1 million under budget, the CEO said. Poor
weather, a poor economy and the war in Iraq are all factors, Mr. Raskin
said, but he said advance bookings are also down for the coming season.
The boat line has plenty of reserve funds, but nevertheless Mr. Raskin
said managers will consider an array of belt-tightening measures,
including more automation for ticket sales and a hiring freeze.
"We've got to be careful," Mr. Raskin said.

He also said the boat line plans to commit more money to advertising
in the weeks ahead to raise visibility about its services, and may
consider alternative sources of revenue such as selling tour bus
tickets, selling advertising space on its buses and inside terminals and
merchandising.

Excursion fares were touched on briefly during the discussion about
finances; Mr. Raskin said the use of excursion fares continues to grow.
Excursion fares - discounted round-trip fares - are intended
to provide travel at reasonable rates for year-round Island residents.

Ms. Roessel said a recent examination revealed that the fares are
being used heavily by the state police on the Vineyard.

"For a state agency that has its own budget to be availing
itself of this is wrong," she said.